Linguistic
profiling is not new to the Western New York area. Over the years, HOME
has received numerous complaints from African Americans and Hispanics
who suspected that their voices reveal their color or their national
origin. They reported that they were denied the opportunity to prove
that they would make desirable tenants before they even met the
landlord.
One of these clients was Alisha, a single mother and
Section 8 participant with a distinctly African-American sounding
voice. After receiving her voucher, Alisha decided to move to North
Buffalo where she believed her children would benefit from the quiet
neighborhood and good schools.
Before beginning her housing search, Alisha had attended
a HOME Section 8 briefing where she learned how to recognize some of the
subtle discrimination techniques landlords used to screen out certain
groups of people. She then began calling about apartments she saw
advertised in the Buffalo News and on signs she saw while driving
around the North Buffalo area. Alisha made a lot of calls, but almost no
one was calling her back.
Because she had made so many calls and received so few in
return, she began to suspect that she was being screened out by the
landlord because her voice sounded Black. Armed with a long list of
phone numbers, a frustrated Alisha called HOME for help.
Based on Alisha’s assertions, HOME initiated testing on
the properties on the list that were still being advertised. One of
these properties was being marketed for the owner by a local real estate
company. HOME’s African-American tester called the company on four
different days, left a message where she could be reached each time but
never received a return call.
When HOME’s White tester left a message on the answering
machine, she received a return call right away. The realtor left a
message for the tester stating that he had a house available and if she
was interested she should call him back. The next day the tester called
the realtor back and again had to leave a message on the answering
machine. She received a call back the same day.
During that conversation, the realtor described the house
on Parkwood Avenue in North Buffalo and gave the tester an appointment
to come see it. When the tester was unable to keep the appointment and
called to reschedule, she again reached an answering machine. Her call
was returned right away and the realtor scheduled another appointment
with her. At that time, she was given a thorough tour of the unit. The
realtor offered her a business card, an application form and the
opportunity to rent the unit.
Based on the strong evidence of linguistic profiling in
this and two other of Alisha’s complaints, cases were filed with HUD and
the NYS Division of Human Rights alleging discrimination on the basis of
race. Although not admitting any wrongdoing, the real estate company
settled for $2,400. The realtor has also agreed to attend fair housing
training and to abide by all fair housing laws. The other cases are
still pending.
After news of the first settlement, Alisha said that
although the money might be nice, that was not the point of her making a
complaint. For her, the point was that even though racial
discrimination would probably always be here, at least these particular
people would know what they did was wrong—and think twice before doing
it again.
